History

A Successful Club

In 2006 Stevenage and District Amateur Radio Society G3SAD, GX3SAD & G2R celebrated their 50th Birthday (see below). We were established in 1956 with two of the original founders Frank, G3OVT (SK) and Vic, G3FAU (SK) who were stalwart honorary members.

G3OVT & G3FAU

Membership

The success of any Radio Society must depend on a diverse membership along with all those who have the necessary skills and experience to pass on to others. SADARS has moved a few times and is now settled in a very nice location. It includes a sixty foot tower that was passed on from Handy Hams, through Peter Daley G0GTE, when that club went silent.

Society membership has always been good and in no danger of demise. We always aim to give people a service, particularly those interested in becoming a radio amateur and we are proud of the fact that since the inauguration of the new licensing structure we have swelled the ranks of Foundation licenses and have a regular programme of upgrading to Intermediate at least twice a year. We also hope to reintroduce an established formula for those wishing to upgrade to Advanced licence at their own pace, which proving to be successful in the past.

Strengths

The main strength of any Society or Club must be the membership. A good contest group is also a great asset to organise contests and hopefully get the results and recognition for their efforts!

A programme of events and our web site help considerably to advertise our Society at every opportunity.

Participation in non-amateur radio related public events, i.e. school fairs, county shows, Scouts etc, also provide an excellent means of free advertising. Our main annual public events are the Baldock Victorian Fair and The Bedfordshire Steam and Country Fair (GB0BSR) www.bseps.org.uk , held at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, Bedfordshire every September which has an attendance in excess of 30,000 visitors. As this is a major event we are supported by our sister club, also SADARS, Shefford and District ARS.

Advertising

A short anecdote to Club advertising is that in 2003/4 two of our former retired members Don Bache M0XJP and John McCutcheon M0JMC (both now sadly S.K.), who saw what the Society had to offer, joined then duly sent off for their licences (they had passed in 1963 and 1967 respectively) having never taken up the hobby or their full licence! Needless to say the licensing authority were very surprised to receive pass certificates dated some 30+ years previous.

Just in case you are wondering, club member Martin Juhe is not pirating the M0XJP callsign – he was asked by Don Bache, before he passed away, to take over this callsign if he passed the Advanced exam in May 2006. Don Bache was a retired Magistrate, hence XJP (ex JP)

Recognition of individuals who have done more than expected is a nice touch at the AGM and the trophies and certificates are always welcomed.

Societies and Clubs survive through self funding and we are no different, taking every opportunity, to attend rallies in the local area, to dispose of equipment to fund the operation of the Society. We have replaced our old equipment with new to endeavor to keep up, including the replacement of antenna’s and coax. This will hopefully improve our future results in the contests we participate in.

50th Anniversary

The Stevenage & District Amateur Radio Society celebrated their 50th anniversary in June 2006. To mark this half century milestone, there were a number of events.
50th Anniversary web site (Archive)

Radio Society of Great Britain Centenary

2013 marked the Centenary of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), the body that represents Britain’s radio amateurs. Starting life as the London Wireless Club the RSGB has since its inception brought together people with an interest in radio communication. The Society provided the framework within which the pioneers and experimenters of radio technology have thrived.

RSGB members have been at the forefront of the major contributions made to radio technology. Radio intelligence, television, radar development, re-designing the Iron lung and the discovery of Pulsars, have all had radio amateurs working on them. The influence of amateurs across, science, technology, medicine and the communications industry has been huge.

One hundred years later, the RSGB still provides a platform for the exchange of ideas amongst experimenters and, although the technologies may have changed, the amateur spirit has not. With this background many thousands of radio amateurs in the UK are proud to celebrate the Centenary of their organisation, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB).

Ofcom agreed to what was a very special arrangement for the use of the Special Event Station call sign Gx100RSGB, where x is replaced by the secondary location identifier, M, W, I, D, U and J, etc.

The very special nature of the station’s licence was that we are allowed to operate the call at a number of different locations in sequence through the year.

The licence plan approved was for thirteen 28 day periods, allowing each RSGB Region to operate the Special Event Station against a rota. SADARS being in region 9 – London & Thames Valley were given the slot of the weekend 13-15th July 2013 to operate. We set up a multiband station and operated SSB and FM on the 13th & 14th from Rob, G2BKZ’s shack garden and on the 15th we operated CW from Ron, G4DDX’s shack. The weekend was successful and the club members enjoyed good fellowship and weather.

M0NGD operating VHF FM as G100RSGB

G4DDX operating HF CW as G100RSGB

G2BKZ operating HF SSB as G100RSGB

Historical Photographs

G3FAU (SK) QSL Card

G3FAU (SK) QSL Card – View Today